Toyohiko Kagawa, photo: public domain

Born into a samurai family, Toyohiko Kagawa (賀川 豊彦) became a Christian reformer, pacifist, civil rights activist, and trade union activist through his deep passion for God's love.

He also authored 150 books. For his participation in strikes, he was imprisoned, where he wrote two novels. In 1940, he publicly condemned the Japanese occupation of China and was imprisoned again for this.

Kagawa strove to integrate Christian values ​​into the social and economic order and pursued a cooperatively organized alternative between capitalism and socialism.

His calling to serve the needy led him to the slums of Kobe, where he worked as a social worker, missionary, and researcher. He founded schools, hospitals, and churches, co-founded a political party, and established the All-Japan Anti-War League. He also dreamed of a global federation of states based on cooperative principles.

Despite his significant role as a 20th-century Christian thinker, Kagawa is largely unknown in the west.

He spoke plainly before the Emperor:

"Everyone who will be great among you should be the servant of all. The sovereignty of a ruler, Your Majesty, is in the hearts of the people. Only by serving others can a man or a nation be pleasing to God."

Toyohiko Kagawa before Emperor Hirohito, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, 1946

On communism, he said:

"The only power of communism lies in diagnosing some of the ills of a dysfunctional society. It has no cure. It merely creates an infantile paralysis of the social order."

Infantile paralysis. Ouch.